The Legacy (16 page)

M
ARJOLAINE
C
LERMONT
stood on the stage, waiting for the curtains to part, the lights to come up. From the sidelines of the completely restored opera house, her most loyal fans watched. Darcy and Gabriel were there, along with her beloved Paul and Amelie, their baby daughter.

Gabriel sent her a thumbs-up, and Amelie called out a “Ga-ga!” before a laughing Paul shushed her.

And then it was time. The heavy curtains parted and Marjo stepped forward into the spotlight, a spotlight she had grown used to in the year and a half since the first CajunFest. The instruments in the orchestra pit struck the first note, and in a moment she began to sing the songs her mother had played over and over again when Marjo had been a child.

As she sang, she scanned the audience. Only the first row or two were visible beneath the bright lights, but it was enough that she could see Cally holding hands with Billy Paul, who’d swept her off her feet and taken her to Vegas last month, finally corralling the marriage-shy Cally before she could change her mind.

The residents of Indigo were all here, or as many as the opera house could hold. The population of her beloved town was growing, and the sleepy bayou town had a new energy. Even the Robichaux family had come up from New Orleans. Celeste’s daughters and their husbands flanked her and her new husband, Doc Landry.

Marjo sang until she thought her voice might give out, performing the same sets she had been practicing for weeks in a studio in Lafayette, getting ready to cut her first demo tape.

Ever since they’d married, she and Paul had made the travel part of their lives work, with a little ingenuity and a lot of laughs when they took Amelie along. Marjo had found she loved traveling, seeing parts of the world she’d never dreamed of visiting.

Paul’s book, complete with Gabriel’s pictures, had been a huge hit at this year’s CajunFest. Gabriel had looked so proud as he’d autographed copies beside Paul.

The rebuilt funeral home was thriving. Marjo had lured Henry out of retirement long enough to set up the new business and train his son and wife to take over the day-to-day management. Although Gabriel still worked there, he’d also taken a part-time job in a camera shop in New Iberia, which helped him pay for photography classes. He and Darcy were happy, and often came over for dinner with Marjo and Paul.

Beside her husband sat his father, Renault Clermont. He had come down from Canada in
January and decided to stay for a while. Paul had worked hard to reach out to his father and get to know the man who had become a stranger to him.

As the last note left Marjo’s throat, the thunder of applause began to grow, the sound so loud it shook the walls of the Indigo Opera House.

Marjo bowed, then, as she straightened, she let her gaze drift up to the balcony seats. For just a second, she thought she saw Amelie and Alexandre sitting there, beaming their approval that their legacy—of love, and of music—had been continued, its tune set to a new melody.